Energetica India Magazine - September 2022

Q In your view, what are the challenges in maintaining grid stability? Indraneel Dhaneshwar: Global efforts to minimize climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions are driving the adoption of renewable energy to replace fossil-fuel-based electricity production. Large-scale renewable energy sources are getting integrated into the existing electrical grids. Maintaining voltage and frequency within the operational limit is critical. When the portion of renewables like wind and solar is less than 20%, then the stability issues are relatively minor. As the proportion of these in- creases, grid stability issues arise. Power grid operators are faced with the challenge of integrating an increasing share of energy sources into their sys- tems that do not provide the inertia they rely on to maintain grid stability and on the contrary contribute to har- monics and other power quality issues. The variable nature of renewable energy and the fluctuating demand from con - sumers also pose challenges to the grid. Keeping various power sources synchro- nized and balancing optimal generation and demand to maintain grid reliability is no less challenge. Q What are the novel approaches to grid stability? Indraneel Dhaneshwar: With the on- going energy transition, when moving from traditional large-scale coal and oil-fired power production to more and more solar and wind, the electrical grid becomes weaker, and it is more challeng- ing to keep it stable. There are several ways how to increase stability and one very well-proven solution is to add syn- chronous condensers to the grid. A syn- chronous condenser contributes with inertia, reactive power as well as short circuit contribution which all support a stable grid. Synchronous condensers are large ro- tating electrical machines developed to mimic the operation of conventional generator systems by providing an alter- native source of spinning inertia. They I t is estimated that 45% of the world’s electricity is used to power electric motors in buildings and industrial applications and hence has great potential to save energy. There is always a need to prioritize the investments and we could use a few guidelines. As the motor’s inherent efficiency cannot be improved after manufacturing and considering the long lifetime of motors, all new motors in a plant should be at least IE4 super premium efficiency motors wherever applicable and should be optimally selected for a given application, avoiding unnecessary oversizing, discussed Indraneel Dhaneshwar , Regional Divi- sion President, Large Motors & Generators, ABB India, MEA & LatAm, in an exclusive interaction with Manu Tayal , Associ- ate Editor, Energetica India. Mr. Indraneel also discussed about various challenges in maintaining grid stability and possible solutions, usage of energy efficient motors, etc. Here’re the edited excerpts from that interaction: 30 energetica INDIA- September_2022 INTERVIEW Regional Division President, Large Motors & Generators, ABB India, MEA & LatAm INDRANEEL DHANESHWAR